Droopy
455 Internal Member
Hello all v455th!
A brief bit of my background...
Aviation enthusiast/student for 43yrs plus.
I fell in love with airplanes early in my childhood, while living under the Tinker AFB flight pattern during the 70's/80's/90's. My father often took me to the local commercial airport to spend hour's watching aircraft, as well as many, many airshows.
I joined the Army National Guard as an aviation fueler in the 90's, serving a 6yr enlistment.
Honorable discharge. Took what I learned and managed a small FBO at Max-Westheimer airport in Norman. From there, drove a semi-truck for 13yrs, until I reached the point that I burned out from being away from home/fam and constantly driving.
I reentered the workforce in 2014 to pursue a career doing something/anything around aircraft and began my aviation career, fueling military/commercial/general/corporate aircraft at local FBO's at the metro area's largest commercial airport.
This also provided me the unmitigated access to begin my aviation photography/media/writing gig, that I built and fostered, garnering several published articles, both on-line and in printed magazines.
Published articles and my photography work have appeared in Combat Aircraft Magazine, Naval Aviation News Magazine, Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission Social Media/Public Affairs, Will Rogers World Airport Social Media/Public Affairs, Aviation Photography Digest Magazine, along with photo sales to many squadrons and squadron members. Through those years, I've had the privilege of being able to experience things that most aviation photographers only get to dream of. The absolute pinnacle of my photography work and experiences though, was the honor of being selected as a 'Distinguished Visitor', for 24hrs aboard the aircraft carrier: USS John C Stennis (CVN-74).
Today, I am now working at the same airport my father and I had spent so many hours at before, as a member of the Airport Operations staff, responsible for the safe arrival and departure of all aircraft once they are 'inside the fence'.
God has truly blessed me beyond measure.
My first venture into 'flight simulation' was purchasing 'Aero Elite Combat Academy' for the PlayStation 2.
Regarding my DCS experience, I was introduced to DCS in 2019 by a colleague while killing time between fueling aircraft.
Long story short...my brain exploded when I briefly got to fly the DCS Viper in VR, and I just couldn't....let...it...go.
Since that time, I've been working, saving, and working some more, in order to have a decent rig capable of playing DCS in quality VR.
As of March 2024, I finally achieved that goal.
Thanks to @Barney, the v455thAEW will be my first venture into multiplayer flight simulation. I hope you were as warmly welcomed as I was by everyone.
I truly look forward to being on your wing! See you soon!
=DROOPY=
A brief bit of my background...
Aviation enthusiast/student for 43yrs plus.
I fell in love with airplanes early in my childhood, while living under the Tinker AFB flight pattern during the 70's/80's/90's. My father often took me to the local commercial airport to spend hour's watching aircraft, as well as many, many airshows.
I joined the Army National Guard as an aviation fueler in the 90's, serving a 6yr enlistment.
Honorable discharge. Took what I learned and managed a small FBO at Max-Westheimer airport in Norman. From there, drove a semi-truck for 13yrs, until I reached the point that I burned out from being away from home/fam and constantly driving.
I reentered the workforce in 2014 to pursue a career doing something/anything around aircraft and began my aviation career, fueling military/commercial/general/corporate aircraft at local FBO's at the metro area's largest commercial airport.
This also provided me the unmitigated access to begin my aviation photography/media/writing gig, that I built and fostered, garnering several published articles, both on-line and in printed magazines.
Published articles and my photography work have appeared in Combat Aircraft Magazine, Naval Aviation News Magazine, Oklahoma Aeronautics Commission Social Media/Public Affairs, Will Rogers World Airport Social Media/Public Affairs, Aviation Photography Digest Magazine, along with photo sales to many squadrons and squadron members. Through those years, I've had the privilege of being able to experience things that most aviation photographers only get to dream of. The absolute pinnacle of my photography work and experiences though, was the honor of being selected as a 'Distinguished Visitor', for 24hrs aboard the aircraft carrier: USS John C Stennis (CVN-74).
Today, I am now working at the same airport my father and I had spent so many hours at before, as a member of the Airport Operations staff, responsible for the safe arrival and departure of all aircraft once they are 'inside the fence'.
God has truly blessed me beyond measure.
My first venture into 'flight simulation' was purchasing 'Aero Elite Combat Academy' for the PlayStation 2.
Regarding my DCS experience, I was introduced to DCS in 2019 by a colleague while killing time between fueling aircraft.
Long story short...my brain exploded when I briefly got to fly the DCS Viper in VR, and I just couldn't....let...it...go.
Since that time, I've been working, saving, and working some more, in order to have a decent rig capable of playing DCS in quality VR.
As of March 2024, I finally achieved that goal.
Thanks to @Barney, the v455thAEW will be my first venture into multiplayer flight simulation. I hope you were as warmly welcomed as I was by everyone.
I truly look forward to being on your wing! See you soon!
=DROOPY=
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